SynthesisSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2025
Effectiveness of meaning-centered interventions on anxiety and depressive symptoms, sense of meaning, and quality of life in patients with advanced cancer: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Psychological interventions to alleviate death anxiety among patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled studies.BMC psychology · 2026Pooled it
- Randomized Controlled Trial of the Meaning-Making Intervention (MMi) in Patients Newly Diagnosed With Advanced Cancer: Full Trial.Psycho-oncology · 2026Trial
- Exploring meaning in culture: Insights from meaning-centered psychotherapy in Aotearoa, New Zealand.Palliative & supportive care · 2026Article
- Reconsidering the spiritual-existential dimensions of perceived burden in advanced cancer.Palliative & supportive care · 2026Article
- The association between health-related quality of life and the meaning of life in community-dwelling older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- "Fear Has Big Eyes": Illness Perception, Fear of Recurrence, and Generalized Anxiety in Post-Treatment Thoracic Cancer Patients: A Serial Multiple Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- It's all about the relationship: The caregiver experience of supporting a person with advanced cancer going through an LSD microdosing trial.Palliative & supportive care · 2026Article
- The relationship between alexithymia, meaning in life, and quality of life in older breast cancer patients: a cross-sectional study based on variable-centered and person-centered perspectives.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Latent transition analysis of resilience in breast cancer patients and its association with sense of meaning in life: a longitudinal follow - up study.Frontiers in oncology · 2026Article
- Breaking the silence: the effectiveness of a dialogue-based intervention on family functioning and psychological distress among young adults in a Chinese context.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The effect of acceptance commitment therapy on the mental health of elderly breast cancer patients.World journal of surgical oncology · 2025Article
- Hope, strength, and survival: exploring positive psychology interventions in breast cancer care.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2025Review
- Network Analysis of Depressive Symptoms and Meaning in Life and Their Association with Health-Related Quality of Life Among South Korean Older Adults.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Couples' experiences of spousal caregiving for women with breast cancer: a frame analysis.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- How family support alleviates death anxiety in breast cancer patients: the mediating role of meaning in life.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveThe effect of Meaning-Centered Interventions (MCI) in advanced cancer patients requires further comprehensive research.
methodsTwo researchers independently searched the PubMed, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Cochrane, and PsycINFO databases to investigate the impact of MCI on anxiety and depressive symptoms, sense of meaning, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with advanced cancer from inception to April 2024. Statistical analyses were conducted using standardized mean difference (SMD) as the effect size with Stata 17.0 software for analysis, and the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) was employed to assess the certainty of evidence.
resultsData from 12 eligible studies, involving a total of 1,459 participants, were included in the review. The analysis found that 3 studies with 321 participants reported an improvement in the quality of life (QoL) of patients with advanced cancer within one month after the intervention, compared to the control group (SMD, 0.27; 95% CI, 0.03 to 0.52; I
conclusionsModerate-quality evidence indicates that MCI enhances the sense of meaning among patients with advanced cancer and reduces depressive and anxiety symptoms, but it does not improve their QoL.
Indexed as
Identifiers
39747698What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.